Conduit has rolled out some changes to its platform that aim to make it easier for small businesses to create industry-specific mobile apps. The changes offer the ability to build industry-specific mobile apps for a number of different verticals, including music, events, business, restaurants, education, photography, and blogging.

Businesses that fit into these specific verticals can now use simple tools and templates (see screenshot above) to create mobile apps tailored to their target audience. The apps will contain features specific to various industries, rather than a cookie cutter set of features that may not be relevant to all businesses.

“We’ve seen from the broad range of publishers creating mobile apps with our platform that one solution doesn’t have to fit all. That is why we decided develop different features for the specific needs of various verticals.”

Mobile friendly sites and apps have become almost a necessity for many types of businesses. And though there are plenty of DIY app builders available, not all of them allow this type of simple customization with specific features meant for particular industries.

Conduit has also partnered with other companies, such as OpenTable, which also recently launched a program to help restaurants build mobile friendly sites, to make sure its app creation tool fits the needs of certain business types.

Said Zinman:

“Each of the verticals is unique, sporting a tailored set of features. For example, the events template has options for maps and an event schedule, while the restaurants template offers pages for menus and specials.”

Conduit’s basic app tool is free to use and requires no coding knowledge. Businesses can simply submit their website and Conduit can put together simple apps or mobile friendly sites. However, there are more customizable options for users that want to build more advanced apps.

Conduit’s first software-as-a-service platform was launched in 2005, and its mobile program launched in 2011. These latest changes begun rolling out in August, but Zinman said that Conduit is continually adding new features to the verticals on a regular basis.

Annie Pilon is a staff writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles and feature stories. She is a freelance writer specializing in marketing, social media, and creative topics. When she’s not writing for her various freelance projects or her personal blog Wattlebird, she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

3 Reactions

Annie, Interesting news. Conduit started out as a toolbar company. We have a Conduit toolbar for BizSugar.com. But it looks like they’re really shifted emphasis to mobile — which given the trends, makes sense.

It is very interesting to know that Conduit has the ability to build industry-specific mobile apps for a number of different verticals, including music, events, business, restaurants, education, photography, and blogging. Thanks a lot for this great article.

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